Scotland College Study Trip

Back hame once more, again in June, but for only 1 week instead of 3. Here's a summary. Apologies in advance for no animal photos as most of the sightings were glimpses and I have a phone camera.

Sunday we went to the Highland Wildlife Park and had a guided tour around the place and discussed the arguments for and against species reintroductions into Scotland. This was good as I'd been to the park before, but felt more informed going away. Unfortunately I "lost" my phone, so I didn't take any photos but I loved watching the Amur Tigers, as always, and of course the wolves although there was only wolf wandering its enclosure this time. It was just good to go round with college mates and go back to familiar places. Then we went to the lovely Loch Insh where we sat and watched Ospreys flying overhead for a good hour or so, as well as walking around the loch to find many orchids and other wonderful plants (a highlight for me). Then we went on a late afternoon stroll up Craigellachie behind the hostel at which we were staying. That was probably the fullest day of the lot as the weather started turning...

Loch Insh 

Early Purple Orchid at Loch Insh

Heath Spotted Orchid at Loch Insh

On the way up the Craigellachie trail 

Cairn on Craigellachie

Lochan next to the cairn

Lecturer looking at montane flora

Monday we went up to Cairngorm and had a talk from one of the rangers at the base about the geology and conditions on the mountain, as well as the recreations side of things. I think the first time I went to Cairngorm I'd seen it in passing but I enjoyed walking through the montane garden they have with notes on the ecology of mountain and moorland plants. I'd never walked around Cairngrom so luckily we went on a walk up one of the paths and got a good ways up before having to come down (due to mixed fitness levels and low visibility). Amazingly the small group who decided to carry on up higher, myself included, glimpsed a ptarmigan. Others had seen red grouse during the course of the hike, but I never did manage to spot one. The hike took the energy out of a lot of people, so that was the end of Monday.

Interp 1

Interp 2

Catching sight of a Ptarmigan at the end of the Cairngorm hike

Think I enjoyed Tuesday the most as it was my beloeved Abernethy and their was a talk by Ian Perks, head warden, a nice guy and very knowledgeable. Had a lovely long walk through the old woods and saw none other than a capercaille in flight! So in regards to birds I've seen Dotterel on Creag Meagaidh, Osprey at Loch Insh (and a few other places), Ptarmigan on Cairngorm and Capercaille at Abernethy.

Walking with lecturers and Ian Perk, Warden for Abernethy

Lovely woods as always

Discussing management of the woods and surrounding landscape

Loch Garten. Need I say more?

Wednesday was a bit of a shame as it poured it down and we had to carry out a contingency plan. The day was mostly about  interpretation so we went to Glenmore Forest Park and saw some of the signage there, most of which I'd already seen. Then we did a lovely walk in the pouring rain with almost no visibility from Allt Mor, I believe, all the way up to Cairngorm again. Then we dried off, took the funicular up to the Cairngorm Plateau and had a look at the excellent interpretation there too.

Glenmore interp

Powerful overflowing river on the trail makes for an interesting contrast to lazy chalk streams of England

Nice bit of interp at Cairngorm Plateau base

Thursday we saw dolphins. Lots of them. It was planned for Wesdnesday but the weather was too bad. We were glad we changed the date as it worked out well. Went out with Ecoventure in RIBs on the Moray Firth and saw tons of dolphins. Unfortunaley I missed the seabird colonies due to raging sea sickness, but that cleared quickly. Thankfully the dolphin spotting was good enough to make me forget about it.

 Spot where we first watched some dolphins breach the waters and also some sea birds before going on the boats. 

Going out on to the Moray Firth in a RIB

Thanks for reading.